WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) - We hit neighborhoods considered the height of hip, to find out: Is D.C. a "hip" place to live? Why take on this assignment?

The debate started with an article that appeared a month ago in The Atlantic Wire saying that "the city is not hip and it never will be."

Ever since, on the streets, and in some tweets, the hipness debate has raged on. Morgan Greenhouse, life-long Washingtonian, entrepreneur and founder of verdeHOUSE, is fighting back by promoting a new hashtag on Twitter: #hipDC. "It's really incredible when you walk to work every day and you pass the White House or you're at a party on a Saturday night and you look around and everyone there is there to change the world in one way or another," she said.

Greenhouse points to food trucks, start-ups and more. To be fair, we reached out to the Atlantic article's author, she wasn't available. But in the article, she points to one detracting factor: lots of young people in D.C. work for the government, or as she writes, "the man."

Stephanie Vann of Northwest D.C. does too, saying, "I think it needs to support the arts more."

Ben Healey moved to Columbia Heights a few years ago. He says he thinks the nightlife is certainly hip, but then we read him the definition of the word from Merriam-Webster:

"Having or showing awareness of or involvement in the newest developments and styles"

Healey started to waver. He said, "If we're comparing it to a place that's as fashion forward as New York, it's tough to measure up fashion-wise."

To make his point, Healey pointed us toward what some call the "hip-strip:"11th Street. There we encountered the Wonderland Ballroom, part dive bar, part restaurant, and all hip.

Matthew Szymanski is the Executive Chef., "I would define hip as someone who's looking for that thing that's not cool yet, and they're ok in their own skin and they're willing to do what makes them feel good," he said.